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WA kids brutalised in adult jail: lawyer

A leading human rights lawyer has said children as young as 10 are being brutalised in a West Australian adult prison as he launched landmark legal action to attempt to have them moved.

George Newhouse from Shine Lawyers travelled to Perth to lodge a motion in the WA Supreme Court alleging the government decision to house more than 100 young offenders at the maximum security Hakea prison was illegal.

The action, brought on behalf of several of the families of youngsters in the prison, says the move, following a riot which trashed the Banksia Hill juvenile prison, breached the state's Young Offenders Act.

"The spin doctors can tell you whatever they want but evidence will come out showing that the boys are getting two hours education a week, they are locked up for 23 hours a day, they are not getting proper food and adequate healthcare and we'll see what the truth is when they have their day in court," Mr Newhouse said.

"The families are hoping that their children will be treated like human beings - not paraded like animals in a zoo, not bashed, not starved, not denied an education, not denied health and psychological support."

More than 100 juvenile offenders are still housed in Hakea after dozens of cells were destroyed during the juvenile detention centre riot in January.

Three inquiries are looking at how and why the prison was trashed.

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Submissions to the inquiry by WA prison inspector Neil Morgan express grave concerns about how young prisoners are being treated in the arrangement, which Amnesty International says could go on for up to a year.

It's alleged one young prisoner had his head shoved down a toilet by an adult prison officer while being restrained, and another attended court with cuts and bruises after being thrown from a prison van onto the ground.

A submission on behalf of WA Legal Aid's YouthLaw team said lawyers were reporting shocking conditions.

Since those submissions went public, Children's Court judges have expressed grave concerns about conditions, and since last week prison figures show 17 youngsters have been released from Hakea.

Mr Newhouse said he had been told of children as young as 10 being held at Hakea, and called on the government and Department of Corrections to consider reopening the decommissioned Rangeview facility for young offenders on remand awaiting their hearings.

"The people of Western Australia are paying $500 a day for a babysitting service for children that will never serve a jail sentence," Mr Newhouse said.

"We are bringing this legal action on behalf of all the children being brutalised in Hakea Prison."